Friends Like These

For the book by Danny Wallace, see Danny Wallace (humorist) § Friends Like These.

Friends Like These is a British game show that was broadcast on BBC One first as a pilot on 6 November 1999 and then as a full series from 12 February 2000 until 20 September 2003. It was presented by Ant & Dec from 1999 to 2001 and later by Ian Wright until 2003.^[2][3]

Friends Like These
Genre	Game show
Presented by	Ant & Dec Ian Wright
Voices of	Mitch Johnson
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	6
No. of episodes	52 (inc. pilot and 1 special)
Production
Production location	BBC Television Centre[1]
Running time	50 minutes (Series 1) 55 minutes (Series 2–6)
Original release
Network	BBC One
Release	6 November 1999 (1999-11-06) – 20 September 2003 (2003-09-20)

Format

Two five-member teams, one composed of males and the other of females, competed on each episode. They played five head-to-head challenges, with both teams nominating a different member for each of the first four based on clues given by Ant & Dec. The winner of each challenge scored one point for their team. The last remaining member of each team played the fifth challenge, "The Decider", in which each team could score up to five points.

The higher-scoring team at the end of the decider advanced to the question round, in which each member could win a holiday. All five sat in a row, with their chairs initially lit up white. One member at a time chose a teammate, who randomly drew one of 10 questions that the member had answered on a questionnaire before the show. The teammate then tried to guess the answer given by the member. If they were correct, the member's chair remained white; if not, it turned red.

After all five members had a chance to play, the ones in the white chairs were offered a choice. They could end the game immediately, each winning the holiday while the others won nothing, or gamble their prize in the hope of winning it for everyone. If they chose to gamble, the members in the red chairs chose one "white" and drew a question to answer about them; from the second series this changed to being one combined question about all five members. A correct response awarded the holiday to all five team members, while a miss sent them all home empty-handed. (If all five members of the team were still sitting in white chairs, they automatically won the holiday.)

Transmissions

Series

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes	Hosts
Pilot	6 November 1999[4]		1	Ant & Dec
1	12 February 2000[5]	1 April 2000[6]	8
2	28 October 2000[7]	6 January 2001[8]	10
3	9 June 2001[9]	4 August 2001[10]	8	Ian Wright
4	27 October 2001[11]	19 January 2002[12]	10
5	27 April 2002[13]	29 June 2002[14]	8
6	11 January 2003[15]	20 September 2003[16]	8

Special

Date	Entitle
21 December 2002[17]	Families Like These

References

1. "BBC TV Centre". Retrieved 1 August 2021.
2. "9 TV Shows You'd Totally Forgotten Ant And Dec Used To Present". HuffPost UK. 19 March 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
3. Waheed, Jabeen (14 March 2022). "Maisie Smith 'lands TV gig hosting Friends Like These reboot'". OK! Magazine. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
4. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 6 November 1999". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
5. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 12 February 2000". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
6. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 1 April 2000". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
7. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 28 October 2000". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
8. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 6 January 2001". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
9. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 9 June 2001". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
10. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 4 August 2001". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
11. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 27 October 2001". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
12. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 19 January 2002". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
13. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 27 April 2002". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
14. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 29 June 2002". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
15. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 11 January 2003". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
16. "Friends Like These – BBC One London – 20 September 2003". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
17. "Families Like These – BBC One London – 21 December 2002". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.

External links

• Friends Like These at BBC Online
• Friends Like These at IMDb.
• Friends Like These at BFI.
• Friends Like These at UKGameshows.com.